Innovative subject, how to attract ＂external wisdom＂ and strengthen ＂bones and muscles＂
[Core Tip] Enterprises are the main body of innovation. However, in the fierce market torrent, the technological innovation of enterprises faces many challenges such as time, cost and talents. To solve this contradiction, Industry-University-Research integration plays an important role. In recent years, the provincial electronic information group has explored the Industry-University-Research integration of various modes by linking member enterprises, universities and research institutes, and promoted the gathering of various innovative elements to enterprises, making innovative breakthroughs in the frontier field of electronic information industry.
In mid-April, Fujian Zhaoyuan Optoelectronic Co., Ltd., located in Fuzhou, held a video conference.
The video is the backbone of the research and development of Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics; At the other end, it is an expert in the field of display technology in our province — — Dr. Yan Qun from distinguished professor of Fuzhou University, Dr. Zhu Haomiao from Institute of Structure of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr. Li Yang from Mindu Innovation Laboratory.
On the same day, all parties re-evaluated the test data of the combination of the quantum dot material of the expert team and the chip of Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics. The results are encouraging — — The absorption and conversion efficiency of quantum dots for blue light is greatly improved!
"This is a great improvement!" Zhang Fan, director of Zhaoyuan Optoelectronic R&D Technology Center, said that this means that the "four-party joint team" is another key step away from conquering the full-color high-pixels per inch Micro LED chips and driving modules, and then leading the display technology replacement.
The project "test questions" work together to tackle key problems
"Enterprises should innovate and introduce ‘ Waizhi ’ It’s crucial. And the achievements of high-tech must be ‘ Cross-border ’ Output, relying on production, learning and research alone, is difficult to achieve. "
Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics is a member enterprise of Provincial Electronic Information Group and a national high-tech enterprise. Over the years, it has become the third generation semiconductor industry base in our province.
Although the production and sales of LED chips are among the best in China, and the products cover general lighting chips, automotive lighting chips, backlight chips, etc., the top management of the enterprise is very clear: "To lead the display chip industry, we must lay out the future!"
It is a new generation of display technology — — Micro LED (micro light emitting diode) chip.
What is a Micro LED?
"If the single pixel of the existing top-end mobile phone screen is more than 100 microns, the Micro LED shows that a single pixel is only more than 10 microns. This means that the pixels per inch of the same area screen has been greatly improved. Generally speaking, the definition will be increased by 10 times. " Distinguished professor of Fuzhou University and Yan Qun, global secretary general of the International Information Display Society, told reporters.
Dr. Yan Qun established a research and development team based on the National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Flat Panel Display Technology of Fuzhou University, and Micro LED is its main research direction.
In his view, high-definition Micro LED will greatly improve the interactive experience of virtual reality. "After mass production, it will lead the replacement of the display industry, and it is expected that a new industrial cluster will be derived in the future, with a volume ten times or even a hundred times that of the existing display industry."
Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics is one of the earliest enterprises in China to mass-produce and ship Micro LED chips. But they encountered a bottleneck: at present, they can only make monochrome Micro LED.
"Monochrome Micro LED products are mainly used in high-precision and high-pixel military and police equipment and aircraft driving." Zhang Fan admits that the market in these areas is limited.
We must break through the color Micro LED technology in order to face the hundreds of millions of consumer markets — — This is a new "test question" given by the market to Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics.
At this time, the "light-color conversion technology" owned by experts from Fuzhou University, Mindu Innovation Laboratory and Institute of Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences has attracted the attention of enterprises. With the help of quantum dot materials, this technology stimulates the "photoelectric effect", thus realizing the technical iteration from "monochrome" to "full color".
Enterprises have demand, and universities and scientific research units have technology. The quartet hit it off immediately, and then formed a joint research team in the form of project cooperation.
In this cooperation, the Quartet team is indispensable — — The quantum dot preparation and spraying technology of Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the quantum dot forming technology of Mindu Innovation Laboratory and the display control technology of Fuzhou University team are all industry leaders, while Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics has advanced chip manufacturing technology and expensive equipment such as MOCVD, optical coating machine and mask aligner.
From conception to engineering, to mass production, it is necessary to cross many technical barriers. From the beginning of the cooperation, it is convenient for everyone to be like a family. Discussion in the meeting room and research in the laboratory have become commonplace. Even under the epidemic, there is no relaxation, which is the technological breakthrough. In 2021, this project undertook a major project of scientific and technological innovation in the province. At present, the first phase of the project, that is, the theoretical and technical engineering, is coming to an end, and it is expected that full-color Micro LED will be mass-produced in 3~5 years.
Joint research brings win-win results. If we only rely on the enterprise to make chips and quantum dot materials, it may take several times more time and miss the development opportunity; The electronic information industry is a capital-intensive industry, which often invests hundreds of millions or even billions of yuan. Without the investment of capital and equipment from enterprises, it is difficult for universities and research institutes to achieve technology landing.
At present, most of the more than 30 first-class subsidiaries of Provincial Electronic Information Group have adopted the Industry-University-Research model of project cooperation to tackle key problems. "Enterprises should innovate and introduce ‘ Waizhi ’ It’s crucial. And the achievements of high-tech must be ‘ Cross-border ’ Output, relying on production, learning and research alone, is difficult to achieve. " Yan Qun said.
Create a "consortium" for collaborative innovation
"Industry-University-Research cooperation is not a temporary need, but to make enterprises truly become the questioners, respondents and reviewers of scientific and technological innovation. Only by forming a long-term mechanism can we truly achieve this goal. "
In the spacious and bright computer room, the orderly cabinets form a supercomputer, and there is a huge amount of data rushing every second. Here, it is the second phase of the provincial supercomputing center operated by Digital Fujian Cloud Computing Company, a subsidiary of Fuzhou Binhai New City Electronic Information Group.
At present, the second phase of provincial supercomputing can provide floating-point computing capacity of not less than 3000 trillion times per second, and it will provide floating-point computing capacity of not less than 100 million times per second by the end of this year, leading the province!
But even such a "super brain" has "growing pains".
"Over the years, we have invested heavily in hardware infrastructure, and the computing power of data centers has improved rapidly, but the application of computing power has always been a shortcoming." Chen Xiang, assistant general manager of Digital Fujian Cloud Computing Company, analyzed that in the field of supercomputing, it is not possible to "calculate" without data, but must be supported by relevant application software and calculation models. "This is our weakness."
Cooperation with colleges and universities to solve the application difficulties has become the way to solve the problem sought by Digital Fujian Cloud Computing Company.
"Artificial intelligence is the main field of supercomputing applications. Beijing Institute of Technology has great advantages in artificial intelligence applications, not only with strong scientific research capabilities, but also with many practical application scenarios." Chen Xiang said that after learning that the Southeast Institute of Information Technology of Beijing Institute of Technology landed in Putian, the company actively contacted each other.
After continuous communication, a long-term mechanism of Industry-University-Research cooperation was formally formed — — In November last year, the two sides jointly established a collaborative innovation center for cloud computing and big data, and was approved for the collaborative innovation platform project in Fuzhou area of Fuxiaquan National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone.
The Innovation Center has just been established for half a year, and a number of substantive cooperation have been launched.
"The two sides are working together to develop an intelligent analysis engine based on artificial intelligence." Chen Xiang said that the system is based on intelligent analysis of network hot search and network language, and assists users to turn the analysis results into operational decision-making command ability. "This application can be widely used in multi-industry and multi-scene deep integration applications, such as screening cyber violence behavior and mastering brand popularity."
This hand in hand is just a "stepping stone". In the future, this "consortium" will also carry out joint innovation in the fields of cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and information security, industrial Internet, etc., and provide support for the development of cloud computing and big data technology in our province.
"Form an innovation consortium, and achieve the goal of breaking the ‘ through the coordinated operation of you coming and going and deep cooperation; Information island ’ , realize ‘ Group innovation ’ The purpose. " In Chen Xiang’s view, from single project cooperation to long-term platform construction, it is the embodiment of Industry-University-Research’s deep integration.
As a leading enterprise in machine vision industry and artificial intelligence Internet of Things in our province, Star Internet of Things, a subsidiary of Star Network Ruijie, and Haixi Research Institute of China Academy of Sciences jointly established "Haixi Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences-Star Internet of Things AI Innovation Research Center". In recent years, the two sides have conducted in-depth cooperation on the "Smart Campus-Smart Classroom" project.
"In the past, it was necessary to send a duty teacher to inspect the eye exercises between classes. Now, with the system jointly developed by us and the team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, we can judge through the fine motion recognition of AI." Tian Zhongmin, director of Starnet Ruijie Technology Center, said.
Among them, the algorithm model for precise motion recognition by the team of Strait Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences can be directly used by enterprises, and various applications can be derived through joint secondary development.
"Long-term cooperation with research institutes can reduce the research and development time of enterprises, save research and development costs, and also make the research and development achievements of research institutes face the market directly. This is a win-win choice." Tian Zhongmin believes.
He said that Industry-University-Research’s cooperation is not a temporary need, but to make enterprises truly become the questioners, respondents and reviewers of scientific and technological innovation. Therefore, only by building a more systematic and comprehensive organizational model and forming a long-term mechanism can this goal be truly achieved.
Build a "connector" to match "super brain"
"Predict the development trend of the industry, participate in the policy formulation of government departments, and match and graft the group member enterprises ‘ Super brain ’ , is our goal. "
Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics "joined hands" with Fuzhou University, Institute of Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Mindu Innovation Laboratory to lay out "future industries"; Southeast Institute of Information Technology of Beijing Institute of Technology has long-term cooperation with Digital Fujian Cloud Computing Company & HELIP; … Industry-University-Research’s "hand in hand" actually has a "matchmaker" behind it — — Applied Technology Research Institute of Provincial Electronic Information Group (hereinafter referred to as "Applied Research Institute").
It is rare for provincial enterprises to set up applied research institutes at the group level in our province. As a wholly-owned first-class subsidiary of Provincial Electronic Information Group, the Applied Research Institute is a provincial state-owned new think tank and the first batch of key think tank pilot units in our province. The most direct purpose of setting up this institution is to carry out industrial research and innovation cultivation.
Entering the Applied Research Institute, the reporter found that this is a young and mature team. "The backbone of the team is mostly ‘ Post-80s ’ ‘ After 90 ’ And the vast majority of people have rich industrial experience in new display, optoelectronic devices, integrated circuits and other industries. " Zhang Jian, a senior engineer at the Applied Research Institute, said.
Zhang Jian introduced that around 2020, the Applied Research Institute undertook the research of the "White Paper on Technology Development of Four Electronic Information Industries in Fujian Province, such as Micro LED" by the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology.
"Through market research, we learned that Micro LED has a broad market prospect as the next generation display technology, and it is also an area that the province intends to focus on supporting development. This industry is related to the current layout of Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics, a member of the group. " Zhang Jian said that their research results eventually played an important role in promoting the cooperation between Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics and various teams.
In the view of Xian Yongzhang, deputy general manager of Applied Research Institute, Applied Research Institute is not only a "bridge" between group member enterprises, government decision-making and scientific research in universities, but also a "think tank". Xian Yongzhang said: "Predict the development trend of the industry, participate in the policy formulation of government departments, and then match and graft the group members ‘ Super brain ’ , is our goal. "
Guided by the goal, in addition to guiding the group enterprises to climb the high ground of Micro LED technology, the Applied Research Institute is actively promoting the group member enterprises to lay out future "tracks" such as automotive electronics, third-generation compound semiconductors and flexible electronics.
The Applied Research Institute, with a strong "pushing hand", promotes the Industry-University-Research cooperation among the group member enterprises, universities and research institutes from a "short-term and quick" mode with a project as the cooperation cycle to a long-term and strategic cooperation.
Last year, the Institute participated in the formulation of the special plan for strategic emerging industries in Putian during the 14th Five-Year Plan. In this process, after learning that the information of Southeast Institute of Information Technology of Beijing Institute of Technology was introduced locally, the institute "matched" its cooperation with Digital Fujian Cloud Computing Company, and the two sides hit it off.
Nowadays, in the provincial electronic information group, such Industry-University-Research platforms emerge one after another — —
Star Network Ruijie signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Fujian Research Institute of China Academy of Engineering to carry out in-depth cooperation; Fuzhou University, Institute of Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Fuxin Electronics have carried out collaborative innovation in technology research and development, achievement transformation and industry consolidation. The Provincial Electronic Information Group and the Fifth Institute of Electronics of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly built the Xinchuang Adaptation Testing Center and the public service platform of Xinchuang Industry … …
"The development of electronic information industry must rely on the innovation of enterprises, universities and research institutes ‘ One small step ’ , converge into a breakthrough ‘ Get stuck in the neck ’ Key technology ‘ A big step ’ 。” Xian Yongzhang said that during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, the provincial electronic information group was positioned to develop into a strategic innovation highland of China’s electronic information industry. "By exploring the operation mode of innovation platform of state-owned enterprises, we hope to become ‘ Connector ’ Take substantial steps in promoting collaborative innovation in the whole industry chain. "
Under a series of innovation-driven development strategies, Provincial Electronic Information Group has made continuous breakthroughs in the fields of domestic memory chips, new generation display technology and Xinchuang technology. In 2021, the R&D expenditure of the whole group was 3.295 billion yuan, accounting for 6% of the total investment.
"The electronic information industry is capital-intensive, technology-intensive and talent-intensive, and Industry-University-Research cooperation is an important driving force for the Group’s innovation and development. Next, we will continue to promote various forms of Industry-University-Research cooperation, such as project cooperation, joint research and development, the formation of Industry-University-Research Alliance, and technology transfer, to promote the quality change, efficiency change and power change of Fujian’s electronic information industry. " Bian Zhihang, general manager of the provincial electronic information group, said. (Reporter Huang Qing Lin Biao)